War is hell
by Sara's Earliest Works
Summary: Angsty melodramatic Pokemon AU with a side of accidentally slashy lines. Try and spot them! XP


"War is hell"  
Sara Jaye 

Wow, this is OLD...Oo I wrote this waaayyy back in 1999 when I was in my Heavy Pokemon Fangirl Stage. I was inspired by a very deep South Park story by Alyssa Few, and this little blurb of text somehow came about...it strays pretty far away from series canon, and I apologize if that's confusing to anyone. It's also extremely angsty and dramatic. Despite that, though, I am somewhat fond of this thing, it does have nostalgic value, after all. And in a move of strange inspiration, I decided to edit and post this thing to just for the hell of it. So all in all, this is AU, somewhat OOC, angsty, dramatic, and just plain weird...you've been warned.

Author's note: This story doesn't quite follow the regular continuity of the TV show.

Synopsis: While continuing on their journey, Ash, Misty, and Brock are found by a woman who thinks they shouldn't be traveling alone, especially because the forest they're camping out in is dark and slightly scary.  
-  
Scene: Ash, Misty, Brock, Jessie, and James's foster parents have gotten into yet another fight, and this time it's more serious. Misty and Jessie are trying to block out the noise by sticking their pillows against their bedroom door. Brock and James are hiding in a walk-in hall closet. And Ash is hiding in the bedroom he shares with Brock and James, listening. And wishing that he and the others could escape this nightmare and just go back to their travels.

This scene is from Ash's point of view.

Screaming in the next room. I've heard it before. I know what's going on.

"Dad's" gone out and gotten drunk again. He and "Mom" are yelling at each other "Mom" screaming at him that he needs to stop drinking, get help, get over it...him shouting back at her, calling her a dirty bitch and telling her to shut her fucking mouth. I've never heard so much swearing. Sure, Brock, Misty, Jessie, James, and I aren't so clean, but still...I guess this time it's different because of how serious this fight is becoming. Meowth is hiding under a table in there, watching them and laughing. How he gets amusement from that, I'll never know. I'm scared to death. Scared that maybe he'll really hurt "Mom". Or Misty. Or Brock. I'm even concerned for Jessie and James. That was definitely a bottle breaking against the wall. I squeeze my eyes shut. I'm curled up in a corner in the room, hiding my head under my jacket holding myself tightly to give the comfort I can't get, wishing it would all just end. Pikachu is just as frightened as I am, and is holding on to me just a tightly as I'm holding onto him. We're each other's only means of comfort and security right now, since the others have chosen different forms of refuge. If Misty, Brock, Jessie, James and I had to be put in a foster home, why couldn't we have just been given a normal one? A home where out foster parents actually paid attention to us, where the father didn't come home drunk, where the mother wasn't on the verge of being committed. Even a few foster siblings wouldn't be so bad. Almost anything would be better than this one, with the alcoholic father who never seems to know we're alive, the mother stretched thin, almost to breaking, and the police investigations late at night...I don't want this. Even if the only escape is breaking out. Then at least we could explain how bad it was and even get to stay in another foster home...I want to get away. I want someone to hold me and make it all better, I want "Dad" to stop drinking, and Meowth to stop with the laughing...this isn't funny.  
"Mom" is crying now, and I can hear that the fight's gotten physical. She'll win. She always wins. He's too drunk to fight. But he could hurt her, and I'm always afraid of that. He has no sense of reason in this state, and he's hardly ever sober. He's always drinking, and sometimes he doesn't come home at night because he's passed out at the bar...and...he's always fighting...and.  
I can't stop crying now. I want this to end. I want this to end,  
I just want to continue my Pokémon journey and not have to stay in a foster home. And I can sense that Brock, Misty, Jessie, James, Pikachu, Togepi, and Meowth want that as well. But I can't have that.  
We can't have that.

"Ash? Can we come in"  
Ash snapped out of his thoughts. Brock was knocking on the door. He slowly got up, dried his tears, and tried to calm down. "Sure," he said. Brock opened the door and came in. James was with him. "Hi." Ash sat back down on his bed. "Are you all right?" Brock asked as he sat down next to the young trainer and slipped his arm around his shoulders. Ash nodded. "I guess," he said. "This really sucks, doesn't it?" Brock said. James joined them, a serious look on his face. "Yes. My own home life was slightly better than this hellhole," he said. "Pika." Pikachu crawled out of Ash's lap and squeezed Brock's arm. Then he patted James on the shoulder. Brock sighed. "Why did they stick us here to begin with?" Ash asked. "They knew that the guy was a drunk and had been for years"  
"I don't know. Maybe they just assumed that they guy had cleaned up his act since the last time they came here," Brock said, trying not to cry.  
"Which was probably 5 weeks ago, from the looks of it." James sighed, then turned away from Ash and Brock so that they wouldn't see the tears forming in his green eyes. They all just sat there for a few minutes, sharing the same feelings of sadness and fear. Each one tried as hard as they could not to cry, to be strong. Ash let out an audible sniffle, which got Brock's attention.  
"Ash, are you crying?" he asked, putting his hand on his friend's shoulder.  
"No. Why would you say that?" Ash gulped, drew in a deep breath, then exhaled. "It's all right. We're all scared"  
"I wasn't crying. Can't a person be scared and not cry?" Ash said, but his choked voice was a dead giveaway. Brock put his arms around Ash and let him cry. Pikachu was also crying, and that only caused Brock's tears to fall. James put one hand on Ash's shoulder and the other on Brock's shoulder.  
"It's going to be all right. We'll get out of here." Just then, Misty and Jessie came in.  
"Mind if we join you?" Misty asked.  
"Sure," Brock said as he dried his tears. Meowth and Togepi were silent as they sat down on the bed.  
"If they were going to put us in a foster home, they could have chosen a better place," Misty said tearfully.  
"I know," Jessie said, blinking back her own tears.  
Just then, they all heard a crash.  
"What was that?" they asked in unison. Their foster dad had thrown another glass bottle at his wife. Ash sobbed even louder, and Brock just stood over by the door. Misty put her arms around Ash and tried to comfort him, but only began to cry herself. Jessie and James tried even harder not to break down in tears. Pikachu, Togepi, and Meowth just sat there crying. Brock sat back down on the bed.  
Just then, a siren was heard in the distance, and they all knew what that meant. Ash and Misty just held each other and sobbed. Brock was also crying, and put his arms around them. Jessie couldn't handle seeing them like that, even if they were rivals, and broke down in tears. James finally got tired of holding back tears and began to cry. This only made Pikachu, Togepi, and Meowth cry harder. They were tired of this foster home, tired of all the fights, and all the police investigations. They just wanted to go back to their travels. But that was almost an impossible dream. So they all just sat there and cried for a long time.

End

Oh GOD, I almost forgot how friggin MELODRAMATIC this thing was! x.x;; Of course, at the time it didn't SEEM melodramatic...I WAS 16. I don't consider this a golden achievement in my years as a writer. It was more of a practice-fic, and like I said, I still like it cause it makes me feel nostalgic... As for the weird AU plot...well, I was all inspired and having all these "what if...?" ideas starring the Pokemon characters...


End file.
